Time Bazooka Adventure Safari
by PavlovsPooch
Summary: A day after the presidential election, a party of young hunters undertake a time travel safari to the past to hunt dinosaurs. But one member violates the rules, and somehow, one small mistake disrupted the balance of Time and drastically altered the whole world. AU, OOC.


**A/N: Hello there. So basically this story is based on a short story that I read a long time ago. I just want to try it out. It's not much, but I've been itching to put this story on.**

**AU, OOC, I'm not sure. I'm not good at this**

**Don't own Reborn**

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The poster on the wall seemed to scream at him, beckoning him, enticing him. Ah, yes. The adventure of a lifetime.

TIME BAZOOKA ADVENTURE SAFARI

JOURNEY TO THE TRIASSIC ERA

EXPERIENCE THE THRILL OF HUNTING REAL DINOSAURS!

Gokudera stared at the poster on the wall. His lips formed into a smirk as he waved his checkbook at the man behind the desk.

"Does this 'adventure safari' guarantee that I come back alive?"

The man behind the desk shook his head. "Nope, sorry. We can only guarantee the dinosaurs." The man pulled out a stack of papers from his desk. "A travel guide will be assigned to you. He's going to tell you when and where to shoot. If he says no shooting, no shooting. Disobeying instruction means a penalty of another ten thousand dollars, and of course government action on your return. "

Gokudera glanced at the vast office. It was barely furnished, with only a single bookshelf at one side of the room, a cold fireplace on the other, and a wooden desk with a leather chair behind, where the official was sitting. But what caught Gokudera's eye, aside from the poster, was the bazooka mounted on the wall above the official. It was ordinary, it was small, and it was _purple, _but if the poster and the ten thousand dollar-cost prove to be correct, that bazooka can transport anybody 200 million years into the past.

Gokudera felt a chill run through his spine. "It's amazing," he said. "Just imagine, a bazooka that can take me back in time." He shook his head then chuckled. "If the election yesterday had gone horribly, I would have paid you to take me twenty years back, just to escape from the results. Thank God Sawada Tsuna won as president."

"That's right," the man behind the desk said good-naturedly. "If Xanxus had won, we would have the worst kind of dictatorship ever. People had been calling us up, you know. Said if Xanxus became president they'd rather live in the 1900s. But anyway, Sawada's president now. All you've got to worry about is-"

"Shooting my dinosaur." Gokudera finished for him.

"A T-rex, to be specific. The Tyrant Lizard, the king of the dinosaurs. All you have to do now is sign this waiver." He handed the waiver and a pen to Gokudera, who promptly signed it. "Those dinosaurs are pretty hungry. If anything happens to you, we're not responsible."

"Are you trying to scare me?" Gokudera spat out angrily.

"Well, to be honest, yes. A dozen hunters were killed last year. We won't want anyone panicking at the first shot. Our goal is to give you the severest thrill a real hunter could ever ask for. Your check is still there. I'm giving you the chance to tear it up."

Gokudera stared at his check, fingers twitching, but he did not make a move. Behind him, the door opened, and a man with blonde, spiky hair wearing green army camouflage entered the room.

"Everything set in here, Lambo?" he asked.

The man behind the desk – Lambo – stood up. "Yup. We're good to go." He gestured towards the blonde. "This is Colonello. He's your Safari Guide to the past. Remember what I said about no disobeying instructions."

"Yeah, yeah, no shooting when he says no shooting." Gokudera said lazily.

"Good luck," said Lambo. "Colonello, he's all yours."

Gokudera followed Colonello across the room, taking their guns with them. Meanwhile, Lambo took down the Bazooka from its mount on the wall. The door opened again, and this time three more men entered.

"Hi there!" the black-haired one said with a grin. "Who's ready for some dinosaur butt-kicking?"

Gokudera glared at him, annoyed by his cheerful demeanor. Colonello just sighed.

"This is Yamamoto," he said. "He's my assistant. And the other two are Ken and Chikusa. They're hunters too."

Yamamoto handed each one of them oxygen helmets. "Here, put this on. These oxygen helmets prevent our bacteria from entering the ancient atmosphere wherever we're going."

After putting on the helmets, the hunters inspected their guns.

"Can these guns bring down a dinosaur?" one of the hunters, Chikusa, scrutinized his gun carefully.

"If you hit them in the right place." Colonello said. "First two shots into the eyes to get them blind, then head for the brain."

"How do we know which animals to shoot?" Gokudera asked

"I marked them with red paint." Yamamoto replied. "Earlier today I went to the past and followed several animals. I found one T-rex that's going to die when a tree branch falls on him. I note the exact hour, minute and second, then I shot a paint bomb, which will leave a red patch on its side. We won't be able to miss it. Then we're going to correlate our arrival so that we will meet the lizard not more than five minutes before he would have died anyway. So you see, we're only going to kill the animals which are going to die sooner. Pretty cool huh?"

"Yeah, whatever," Gokudera snorted, but inside, he was maybe a little bit amazed.

Colonello finished loading his gun. "Alright everyone, it's time to go. Don't remove your helmets, stay close to each other, no moving until I say so."

The hunters stood together, clutching their rifles tightly. Gokudera paled a bit, his arms beginning to tremble slightly. _Get it together, idiot, _he mentally chastised himself. _You forked over ten thousand dollars for this. You can do this. No turning back._

Lambo stood a couple of feet away from the group, the purple bazooka heaved over his shoulder. He carefully aimed it towards the hunters, then, with a final "Good luck", pulled the trigger. There was a huge puff of purple smoke, then the hunters were gone.

Gokudera swayed a bit but promptly regained his balance. He shook his head, trying to clear away the dizziness. Soon the purple smoke surrounding them disappeared, and Gokudera could only gape at his surroundings.

"The Pyramids aren't built yet," said Colonello. "Buddha isn't born yet. Remember that. Civilization doesn't exist." The men nodded.

Colonello gestured to his surroundings. "This, my good men, is the jungle of two hundred million years before President Sawada." Then he indicated the metal path where they were standing on. "And this, is the Path, laid by Time Bazooka for our use." The metal path struck off into the wilderness, over the streams and swamps, and among the giant ferns and palm trees.

"As you can see, this path floats six inches above the earth so it doesn't touch a single blade of grass. It's an anti-gravity metal. This keeps us from touching this past world in any way. Stay on this path. I repeat, stay on this path. Not a single clump of mud should ever reach your shoes. And don't shoot a single animal we don't okay. Understand?"

"Why?" asked Ken.

"We don't want to change the Future," explained Colonello. "We don't belong here in the Past. If we accidentally kill an important animal, be it a bird, a roach, or even destroy a flower, we might destroy an important link in a growing species. That's why we marked the animal that's going to die in a matter of minutes. We won't be changing the outcome."

Yamamoto cut through his explanation. "We'd best get a move on," he said. "Our monster is just up ahead. We'll bisect his trail in 60 seconds."

The five men moved forward, balancing carefully on the path. The jungle was high, broad, and it seemed to go on and on. Up in the sky, pterodactyls soar with giant gray wings. The place was filled with sounds of rustling, murmurs and crunches.

Yamamoto checked his watch. "We're almost onto him. Look for the red paint and don't shoot until we say so. Stay on the Path!"

"I've hunted a lot of wild animals before," said Gokudera. "But this is different."

"Gokudera, you give the first shot," ordered Colonello. "Second is Ken, then Chikusa. Safety catches off, everyone."

Yamamoto raised his hand. Everyone stopped.

"There he is," he whispered. "There's our lizard."

The jungle seemed to quiet down. There was complete silence.

Then there was a sound of thunder.

Out of the mist, one hundred yards away, came the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

"The-" whispered Gokudera. "It…"

"Sh!"

It towered thirty feet above half of the trees, a great evil lizard. Each leg and thigh was a thousand pounds of bone, muscle and reptilian skin. Its upper body was ten tons of meat and steel. Two arms dangled out front, with hands which make a human being seem like toys. And the head itself, with teeth that bite like a thousand daggers, with eyes that convey nothing but hunger. It was running, each footstep leaving prints six inches deep into the mud.

"It's big," said Gokudera, staring in awe. "It could almost touch the sky."

"Shut up!" hissed Colonello. "It hasn't seen us yet."

"This is impossible," Gokudera said quietly, determinedly. "We're all idiots. That thing can't be killed."

"I said shut up, moron," Colonello hissed again. "It's gonna hear you!"

The lizard tilted its head and roared, the sound reverberating through the jungle. Gokudera trembled horribly.

"I want out," he said. "I miscalculated. I didn't realize it would be this big."

"Turn around," commanded Colonello. "Walk quietly back to where we came from. Wait for us there. We'll remit half your fee."

"It sees us!" Chikusa said.

"There's the red paint on its chest!"

The giant Lizard raised itself.

"Get me out of here," said Gokudera. "It was never like this before. I was always sure I'd come through alive. This time, I figured wrong. I've met my match and admit it. This is too much for me to get hold of."

"Don't run," said Yamamoto. "Turn around. Back to where we came from."

Gokudera took a few steps.

"No, not that way! Don't leave the path!"

The lizard, at the first motion, lunged forward with a terrible scream. It covered one hundred yards in six seconds. The rifles jerked up and cracked. The Monster roared, teeth glittering with sun.

The rifles cracked again, the sound lost in lizard thunder. The monster's tail lashed sideways, crushing the trees that blocked its path. Then, like a mountain avalanche, the Tyrannosaurus fell, clutching trees, wrenching and tearing the metal path. The men flung back and fired again. The monster lashed its tail one last time, then laid still

The thunder faded.

The jungle was silent.

Ken and Chikusa sat on the pathway, shaking terribly. Colonello and Yamamoto stood with smoking guns, the former cursing continuously. Far behind them, Gokudera was on his knees, shivering as well.

there was another cracking sound. Overhead, a gigantic tree branch broke from its trunk and fell. It crashed upon the dead beast with finality.

"Right on time," Yamamoto checked his watch. "That's the giant branch that was scheduled to kill this beast originally." He turned towards Ken and Chikusa. "You guys want the trophy picture?"

The men thought for a moment, but shook their heads in unison. They all headed back towards where they came from, where Gokudera was currently standing.

"I'm sorry," Gokudera said.

Colonello aimed his rifle towards Gokudera, who shrunk back.

"You're a damn idiot!" the blonde man spat out angrily. "You almost had us killed!"

Yamamoto seized Colonello's arm. "Hang on-"

Colonello shook his hand away. "Look at his shoes, Yamamoto! He ran off the Path! He's going to ruin us all! I'll have to report to the government. We're going to have to pay thousands of dollars of insurance! Who knows what he's done to Time, to History!"

"Take it easy, all he did was kick up some dirt."

"We don't know anything!" cried Colonello, still holding up his rifle. "Who knows what's going to happen?"

Gokudera fumbled his shirt. "Look, I'll pay anything. I'll pay whatever the government demands!"

Colonello glared at him. "Go back to the dinosaur. Dig out the bullets from its head. Then I won't kill you."

"That's unreasonable!"

"The Monster's dead, you idiot. The bullets can't be left behind. Here's my knife. Dig them out! They don't belong in the Past; they might change anything."

Gokudera turned slowly to regard the jungle, that place of nightmares and terror. After a long time, he shuffled out along the path. Five minutes later he returned, his arms soaked with blood. He held out his hands and showed them the bullets. Then he crumpled to the Path, unmoving.

"You didn't have to make him do that," said Yamamoto.

"He deserved it. He's never going hunting with us again." Colonello said wearily. "The effects of the bazooka will wear off in a few minutes. I want to go home."

Gokudera was up again. He flinched when he saw Colonello glaring at him.

"Look, I just ran off the Path. I got a little mud on my shoes. I didn't do anything wrong!" Gokudera pleaded.

"I'm warning you, I still have my gun."

"But I'm innocent!"

Before Colonello could reply, the group was engulfed in a thick fog of purple smoke. The effects of the bazooka had worn of and they were going back to the present.

Soon, they found themselves in the office. It was the same as they had left it, but somehow, something was different. Lambo was still there, but the desk was different. Colonello looked around wildly.

"Is everything okay in here?" he snapped at Lambo.

"Fine. Welcome home!"

Colonello did not relax yet. He turned towards Gokudera and glared at him again.

"Get out of here. Don't ever come back." But Gokudera did not move.

"You heard me!" Colonello spat out. "What are you staring at?"

Gokudera stood, feeling the air around him. Something was different, something… but he couldn't point out what it is. Something was really odd. Something was off. Something…

And then he saw it. The poster on the wall.

TYME BAZUCA ADVENCHUR SEFARI

JOORNEY TTO THE TRIYASIC ERRA

EXPERYENSE TEEH THRILLE OF HONNTING RILL DYNAUSORS!

Gokudera fell into a chair and fumbled crazily at the sole of his shoes. He held up a clump of dirt and stared at it incredulously. "No, it can't be. Not a little thing like this!"

Deep in the mud, gleaming red and gold, was a butterfly, beautiful and dead.

"No, no, no, no! It's just a butterfly!"

It fell on the floor, a small thing that somehow upset the balance of time, changed everything, knocked down small dominoes, then big dominoes, then giant dominoes all across Time. Gokudera's mind spun crazily. How could killing one butterfly changed everything?

With a trembling mouth, Gokudera asked. "W-who won the election?"

Lambo laughed at him. "You didn't know? Xanxus, of course. Somebody with backbone and guts, not like that weakling Sawada." He stopped when he saw Gokudera tremble. "What's the matter?"

Gokudera fell to his knees, picking up the butterfly with shaking hands. "Can't we go back?" he pleaded, "Can't we start over? Can't we make it alive again? Can't we-"

He heard Colonello shift his rifle, click the safety catch, and raise the weapon. He did not move. Eyes shut, he waited.

Then there was a sound of thunder.

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**A/N: There you go. It's not much, but...**


End file.
